The 22-year-old man arrested for detonating a bomb inside of a Santa Maria courthouse pleaded guilty to the crime, about one week shy of the incident’s two-year anniversary.
As part of a recent plea agreement, Nathaniel James McGuire admitted that he walked into Santa Barbara County Superior Court’s Santa Maria division on Sept. 24, 2024, with the intent to kill the Sheriff’s Office deputies manning the lobby.
After throwing his backpack containing a homemade explosive—which hospitalized five people and injured three—into the court lobby, McGuire went back to his car to retrieve one shotgun, one lever-action rifle, and 10 Molotov cocktails with an aim “to reenter the courthouse to kill a judge,” according to FBI Special Agent Cody Crutchley.
“McGuire yelled that the government had taken his guns and that everyone needed to fight, rise up, and rebel,” Crutchley summarized in court documents, based on his discussions with witnesses of the explosion.
Crutchley is part of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, assigned to investigate criminal violations related to international and domestic terrorism.
During Mirandized interviews with Crutchley, McGuire said he detonated the bomb as part of a mission to right “government wrongs” he alleged experiencing.
McGuire didn’t get the chance to reenter the courthouse, thanks to court security and law enforcement officers who detained him outside of his red Ford Mustang.
“Were it not for the quick action of court security and law enforcement, it could have been far worse,” U.S. Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg said in a statement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Originally set for September 2025, McGuire’s trial start date bounced to April this year and again to September due to court-approved continuances.
Prior to changing his plea on Sept. 14, his trial was scheduled to start on Sept. 22 with U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal presiding.
Bernal will also preside over McGuire’s sentencing hearing, scheduled for March 1, 2027. He’ll face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison, according to the DOJ.
While injuring three individuals, McGuire’s homemade bomb resulted in $35,000 worth of damages to the Santa Maria Superior Court building at 312 E. Cook St., also known as the Royce R. Lewellen Justice Center.
“This defendant’s brazen act of terror resulted in physical, structural, and emotional harm,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said in the DOJ statement, “and could have had tragic consequences.”
This article appears in September 17 – September 24, 2026.
